Max & Alec locked room ?
by sinful starlet
Summary: Just added epilogue!
1. Default Chapter

Max and Alec + locked room = ?

By Sinful Starlet

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Disclaimer: situation's mine - the characters aren't, except for Ernie - bless him!

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Rating: probablysomewhere between PG-13 and R - I'm not really sure where the divide is! Actually while we're on the subject, I would be seriously grateful if someone would e-mail me and tell me how the American ratings system works (coming from England it's all a bit of a mystery to me!) Thanx! (Email me at: nirvana_nerd@hotmail.com ) 

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Summary: see title! Logan asks for Max and Alec's help with an eyes-only job - not his greatest idea! Oh yeah, and a locked room, rising temperatures and funny breathing noises all feature somewhere! Admit it - ya wanna know what happens now right?! And don't panic - I'm going for funny not smutty! LOL!

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Author's note: Okay, it's recently come to my attention - since reading back over some of my other M/A stories that most of them aren't all that funny! They all have elements of humour in them, but they seem to end up as dramatic-angsty type things with people getting shot and a surprising number of blood transfusions! (Don't know why they keep coming up!) Anyway, I'm really proud of those stories - I'm writing another one so I have to say that! However, I thought I'd try something different with this one! So this time - no-one gets seriously injured, there's not really too much angst and it might actually make ya laugh! (At least that's the plan!) Hope ya like it anyway! *SS*

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Max and Alec + locked room = ?

By Sinful Starlet

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INTRODUCTION

Even before she got to the apartment that morning, Max had decided that it was going to be a lousy day. She woke up on what should have been a warm, relatively sunny June day to find that the heavens had opened during the night and that it was currently pouring down with rain! Just what she needed when she was running a full shift at Jam Pony that day! She cursed at whatever higher power seemed to have it in for her at the moment and tried to get out of bed........._tried_ to get out of bed. What actually happened was that she none too gracefully landed in a heap on the floor!

She'd managed to get herself tangled up in the sheets during the night and as a result had caught herself as she tried to stand up, making her fall flat on her ass in the process! Cindy came into the room at that point, suppressing a smile as she saw Max sitting on the floor, hair hanging messily round her face as she seemed to be trying to fight the bed linen! 

"Morning boo!", she called eventually, unable to stop herself laughing as she saw caught sight of Max's face as she whirled round. "Damn!", she said through her laughing, "I wouldn't do that if I were you hon! What if the wind changes and your face gets stuck like that?!"

That evidently did not go down too well with Max as she growled under her breath. "I'm going!", OC said, holding up her hands in mock surrender as she backed out of the room quickly, "Oh but by the way - your alarm clock's running slow", she added. Max's brow furrowed in confusion as she looked at the digital display reading 7:38. "It's about twenty past eight", OC went on, "so if you don't move yo' ass in the next five minutes you're gonna be seriously late!" She went then, leaving Max to throw her pillow across the room in frustration!

She'd managed to get dressed and ready to leave in about fifteen minutes - which was quite an achievement for her, especially with OC laughing hysterically as she watched her run round the apartment like a headless chicken! And then he had called. The one thing she really did not need at the moment! Normal had been on her back all week about her missing so much work. She reckoned he was actually about ready to fire her, and now she was running late and Logan wanted her to come over! "Can't it wait?", she asked impatiently as she tried to fasten her boots with the phone propped underneath her chin - except that never really works and she dropped the phone, swearing again as she got up to get it.

"Not really", Logan said, a little uncertain what was going on, given the funn noises coming through over the phone, "sorry Max but it is important, and I promise it won't take too long". 

Max rolled her eyes and sighed heavily, but she eventually agreed, hanging up and reaching for the keys to her motorcycle. So far she was gonna be so late for work that she'd probably lose her job, she was gonna get drenched the second she walked out the door 'cause it was still raining really heavily, she had to go over to Logan's when things were awkward enough between them right now - and it was only 8:45! All she needed was to get knocked off her bike and run into 'sarcastic' Alec (one of his less attractive personalities as far as she was concerned) and it'd be just about the worst morning ever!

PART #1

So she was half right! She hadn't been knocked off her bike on the way over there, but as soon as she got inside Logan's apartment there he was - sprawled on the sofa even though his clothes and hair were dripping wet from the rain - and grinning like a Cheshire cat! Murderous thoughts weren't always wrong - right?! 

"Geez Max I thought I got it bad", he said as he caught sight of her - grin still plastered across his face, "but you look like you swam here!" If looks could kill he would have been six feet under and well on his way to becoming worm food at that moment!

Luckily for him, it was at that moment that Logan reappeared, handing her a towel to dry herself off with. Max hesitated for a second, worried about leaving the faintest trace of her DNA that could infect him again. 

"Relax", Logan said, nodding to the towel, "I'll burn it afterwards - not a major problem". Max accepted that and started to roughly dry her hair and clothes. She took off her jacket, but was not planning on stripping off any more in front of the two of them. She caught Alec's eyes as she pulled off her jacket and then he jokingly pouted as he saw that she wasn't going to take anything else off.

Logan returned from the kitchen again, setting a cup of coffee down in front of Max, Alec already had one. "I guess we should get started then", he said, taking his own seat in front of the computer, leaving Max only one seat left - next to Alec on the couch. She sat down gingerly, trying to keep as separate from him as possible, as he was still soaking wet. 

"Oh come on Maxie!", Alec joked, causing Logan to turn around as the younger guy put an arm round Max's shoulders, "I promise I won't bite!"

Logan shook his head, turning back round, tapping away at the keyboard to bring up the data he needed. He really wasn't in the mood for Alec today, but he swallowed his pride and just tried to ignore him! A slight smile crossed his face as he heard Alec try to stifle a pained grunt - 'thank you Max!' he silently thought. He was right of course - she'd given him a rather sharp dig in the ribs just then, though Logan didn't know the real reason why. After he had said 'I promise I won't bite', he had added something else, but in a tone of voice quiet enough so that only Max would hear it. 

Thinking about it now, 'Unless you want me to!' was probably not the smartest thing in the world to say at that point, but Alec couldn't resist - winding her up was just too much fun! 

"So what's the story?", he said quickly, changing the subject and avoiding the smug grin of satisfaction on Max's face. 

"Arthur Milton", Logan said, tossing a photo over onto the coffee table in front of Max and Alec. 

"And he would be?", Alec asked as Max picked up the photo. 

"One of the richest men in Seattle", Logan supplied, frowning at the glint that suddenly appeared in Alec's eyes.

"He owns the Milton banking chain which operates pretty much all over the US, but that's apparently not all he's interested in". "He's been involved in some fairly shady deals for a long time", Logan went on, scrolling through the files he'd pulled up on the computer screen, "but he's pretty careful about covering his tracks so the police have never managed to pin anything on him yet". 

"So this guy's a black hat", Max said, standing up and walking over to the computer desk next to Logan, followed a few seconds later by Alec, "where exactly does that leave us?"

"Well I've had a few informants keeping tabs on him for a while", Logan continued, "word is, he's getting a little more aggressive in his negotiating". He tapped a few more keys and a picture of another building appeared on the screen, "This is the Herriott Bank, just a couple blocks down from one of Milton's major branches, and his major rival in the foreign exchange sector". "He tried to take them over last year but they rejected his offer - that didn't sit too well so now his plan seems to be to get his hands on their reserves by robbing the place instead".

"Nice!", Alec remarked, drawing disapproving looks from both Max and Logan, "Oh lighten up!", he protested, "I'm just saying that's a pretty ballsy way to do business!" Max laughed under her breath, trust Alec to admire the corrupt, cut-throat millionaire! 

"_Anyway_", Logan said, trying to ignore him, although the look on his face meant that Max had to hide a smile of her own, she couldn't manage to stay mad at Alec for long! "He's got the blueprints for the Herriot building already, but they're not at his home". "It took a lot of digging", Logan said, "but I eventually tracked down this house on the outskirts of town", he finished, dropping another photo on the coffee table. "The house itself is lived in by an elderly couple, but Milton's got a vault in the basement. The house looks so run-down he figures it's the last place anybody would try and steal from so he stores most of his valuable property in there - including the blueprints". 

"So we're stealing again?", Alec interrupted. Max shot him a look, but he just held up his hands in mock surrender, "I just wanna know what the deal is!" 

Instead of going off at him, Max just turned back to Logan, "What about security?"

"Well like I say, there's not too much on site", Logan said, "the husband of the elderly couple sits and keeps an eye on it, but that's basically it". 

"Are you kidding?", Alec interrupted again, in disbelief, "You asked two of Manticore's finest genetically-engineered super-soldiers to come and help you with _one_ old guy?!" 

"I said there wasn't much _on site_!", Logan said exasperatedly, "There is an alarm system though and he has a response team close by if the system is triggered by anyone". 

"I see", Alec cut in again, "and this 'response team'", he said, making air quotes with his fingers, "they wouldn't happen to be a heavily armed, highly trained, SWAT-team style 'response team' would they?" "Of course they would!", he added himself when he saw Logan's expression, "I guess we have to go kick ass again Maxie!", Alec went on, playfully nudging her in the side. "But hey - at least we can avoid the sewers this time - that's a nice change huh?" 

"I should be able to bypass the security system anyway", Logan said quickly, as he was getting more and more annoyed and he did not want Alec to interrupt him again, "I just wanted the two of you there in case something does go wrong". 

"Well _I _feel better!", Alec retorted, "Real comforting, man!" 

"But that's it right?", Max said, trying to force the meeting along as quickly as possible, if only to stop Logan from trying to kill Alec! "We just get the blueprints and get out again?" 

"That'll do it", Logan replied. 

"Well there shouldn't be a problem then", Max said, standing up and dragging Alec up with her towards the door before he had a chance to protest. "Call us this afternoon to set up times and everything and we'll get it done", Max called out just before the door slammed as she shoved the still bewildered Alec through it! 

"Okay what did I do?", Alec asked as they reached the ground floor and retrieved their bikes, knowing he had made her mad - again. He quickly regretted asking though when he saw Max's expression. 'Damn!' he thought, 'I just hope the wind doesn't change!' "Oh come on!", he said, laughing a little when he guessed what was making her mad, "I was just playing with Logan up there - he's a big boy Max - he can take it!" "I'm sorry", he added, putting on something between the most adorable and the most comical puppy-dog pout that Max had ever seen, making her burst out laughing at last, despite how mad he made her at times. 

"Do you ever take anything seriously Alec?", she asked as they rode off together. 

"Not if I can help it!", he teasingly retorted, tagging her as he rode past her, making her chase off after him. Logan flinched as he stood by the window, taking in the whole scene below him. There were times when he really hated that guy!

AN. Okay, so that was the intro and part one - I'll post some more soon, and as always, feedback is nothing but welcome! *SS*


	2. 2

Max and Alec + locked room = ?

By Sinful Starlet

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Disclaimer: situation's mine - the characters aren't, except for Ernie (who gets introduced in this chapter) - bless him!

****

Rating: probablysomewhere between PG-13 and R - I'm not really sure where the divide is! 

****

Summary: see title! Logan asks for Max and Alec's help with an eyes-only job - not his greatest idea. Oh yeah, and a locked room, rising temperatures and funny breathing noises all feature somewhere! Admit it - ya wanna know what happens now right?! And don't panic - I'm going for funny not smutty! LOL!

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Author's note: Okay, so it's probably not laugh-out-loud hysterical yet, but give me time! Story continues, with some memorable interjections from Normal (he makes me laugh!) *SS* (Oh and I'm really trying to ease up on the exclamation marks!)

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PART #2

By the time they finally got to Jam Pony they were both about an hour and a half late and the way Normal had been lately, that could not be good. Max went in first, leaving Alec chaining up both their bikes outside. 

She'd just spotted OC and was about to go over and talk to her - god knows she needed to vent - when she heard a voice calling her, "Just one second there missy miss!" She groaned, Normal had been watching the door after all. "You're exactly one hour and...oh look at that - forty two minutes late!" 

"Normal--", Max started, but he interrupted her, he had apparently decided that today was the day he put his foot down. 'Perfect', Max thought, after all was there anything else that could go wrong that morning? "No, no I don't want to hear any more excuses from you", he said, folding his arms across his chest, unfortunately not seeing the figure walking up behind Max, anymore than she could. 

"I don't want to hear about hospital appointments, or relatives funerals - I don't care if you went into labour while attending a private conference with the Pope! I just---", he trailed off there, not quite sure what to say about the display in front of him. Alec had actually walked into the Jam Pony office about a minute after Max, just in time to see Normal laying into her. He knew she probably wouldn't thank him for what he was about to do, but it could get her off the hook and it'd be worth it, just to see the expression on her face.

So while Normal had been ranting on, he had sneaked up behind Max, wrapping both arms round her waist and bending down, pretending to kiss her neck. He figured she'd already be mad at him, but if he really did kiss her, she'd probably kill him! She was so shocked at first, she was actually ready to attack him, then she got what he was doing and forced herself to play along. 

"Sorry boss!", Alec said, perfectly straight-faced to Normal whose mouth was still doing its best impression of a gaping hole! "It's my fault Max was late this morning, I guess I kinda lost track of time", he finished with his trademark smirk as he felt Max lean back against him and lay her hands on top of his. She even managed a smile somehow - she was a better actress than he thought. 

"Y-yes uh well...", Normal managed at last, still having problems with the view in front of him. "Just uh...just make sure you're both here on time tomorrow!" 

"We will!", Alec chimed in, still smiling as he stepped back from Max, wrapping an arm round her shoulders and steering her away towards the lockers, doing the best he could not to laugh at the astonished expression on Normal's face.

***

He was right - she was seriously pissed! The second they were out of sight of Normal behind a line of lockers she pulled away from him and slammed him against the lockers behind them. 

"Hey, hey, public decency, people!", Normal's voice came through, followed by a, "Don't make me come over there!", which actually sounded more like a 'please God don't make me go over there!'! Max was distracted just enough by the voice to turn away from Alec, but she was still holding him up against the lockers. He waited a few seconds and then cleared his throat to get her attention.

"Uh, can I go now?" Max whipped back round with a grim expression on her face, but she came back to reality, realising exactly what position they were still in. She let go of him then, allowing Alec a little room to stand freely and straighten his clothes.

She managed to mumble a 'sorry', but found herself getting more and more indignant at the highly amused expression forming on his face. "What?", she said at last, in exasperation.

"Nothing", Alec said, still grinning, but seeing she wasn't going to accept that, he quickly went on, "it's just...", he started, moving round her to sit down on one of the benches in between the lockers, "that's a hell of a way to say 'thank you' for saving your job! I'd hate to see what you'd do to me if I got you something really nice for your birthday!" 

Max had to smile then, if only for the fact that he'd had the nerve to say it, but then again, that was Alec through and through! "Sorry", she said again, a little more sincerely this time, "it's just been a fairly lousy morning...probably not the best time to do something unexpected like that!" 

"Clearly!", Alec said, over-exaggeratedly rubbing the back of his head where it'd hit the lockers. 

"You okay?", Max said, almost laughing herself. 

"Hey you're not _that_ strong!", Alec replied, a little indignantly. Normal started hollering again, Alec rolled his eyes, but he got to his feet. "I better go", he said, "mission bells ringing and all that!" 

"What?", Max asked, not quite getting it. "Wait for it", Alec said, holding up his hand to stop her, looking down at his watch, "three...two...one"... "BIP, BIP, BIP, PEOPLE!", went Normal's voice, right on cue. 

She couldn't help but laugh then, playfully swatting Alec as he walked past her, back into the main office. "Hey keep your phone on okay?", she called to him, "I'll let you know what the plan is for tonight". He nodded, holding up said phone before he tucked it back into his denim jacket pocket. 

"Okay", Cindy said, walking up behind Max and startling her a little, "you have exactly ten seconds to tell me what the hell all that was about!" 

"What?", Max said, not sure what the problem was. "Alec was just getting me out of trouble with Normal - we were both running late after going over to Logan's - he just stopped me from getting fired!"

"Does he owe you money or somethin'?", OC asked sceptically. 

"No", Max replied, not sure where she was going with this. 

"You mean your boy just did something nice for you for absolutely _no_ reason?!", Cindy asked incredulously. "Damn!", she laughed as Max nodded, also smiling, "These times they are a-changing!" 

"So what's 'tonight'?", she asked as her and Max walked out of the office, picking up packages from Normal on the way, who still couldn't quite look Max in the face! 

"Nothing too major", Max said as they rode out together, "just some job Logan wants us to do". 

"Ooh so he had to ask Alec for help again?", Cindy said, starting to laugh again, "That can't have been too easy!" 

PART #3

Cindy was right of course - asking Alec for help was about the last thing in the world that Logan had wanted to do, but he couldn't really avoid it. He still couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was that he didn't like about Alec, but there were just times when he really hated that guy! He was just so damn popular though - even Max couldn't seem to stay mad at him anymore. Of course therein lay the problem - Max. He didn't really think he'd ever lose Max to Alec, but having to drive the whole way to Milton's decoy house with the two of them play-fighting in the back of his car hadn't really helped much.

He rolled up to the kerb outside the house, sighing as they were still fighting without any signs of letting up. "Max, Alec", he said then, loudly enough to distract them both, certainly enough to make Max sit up looking very embarrassed, Alec of course didn't look embarrassed at all - go figure! "We're here", Logan said, in a perfect deadpan, no trace of emotion whatsoever. 

Alec rolled his eyes to Max, whispering, "Party pooper!", under his breath, just loudly enough for her to hear it, but he got out of the car and stood next to it waiting for her.

"I'm sorry about that", Max said, in some last minute attempt to apologise before they had to go. 

"Max don't", Logan said, shaking his head, "believe me, I know what he's like. He's a pain in the ass pretty much all of the time, but he's......_useful_", he said, struggling to come up with a compliment. "And I'm glad he can be there to watch your back". 

"Logan--", Max started, feeling the need to protest. 

"It's okay", Logan said, cutting her off, "I know you don't need to be looked after - just humour me okay?" 

Max smiled, though she was inwardly a little annoyed at Logan's still old-fashioned ideas. "Okay", she said, "let's go do this!"

***

Logan waited for them to go inside the house before he moved, driving past the house and round the corner so he was close enough to be in communications range without causing suspicion. He parked then and started to set up the computer equipment he had in the back of the van, unfortunately not quite in time to hear the conversation between Max and Alec as they walked round to the back of the house....

"So what was that about?", Alec asked as they moved almost noiselessly across the wet grass, "You apologising for me again?" She didn't reply, but the look she gave him told him all he needed to know. 

"Figures!", he said, rolling his eyes. 

"Look", Max said, stopping and turning to face him for a second, hoping _he_ wasn't yet listening in. "The virus has really screwed up things between us - you never got to see what we were like before. Now however we feel, _I_ know he can't touch me and _he_ knows he can't touch me, he just doesn't need it shoved in his face that _you_ can". 

That shut Alec up - it was apparently something he hadn't thought of before, though Max could tell that that was what was bugging Logan the second she got out of the car. 

"Max I'm sorry", he said after a while, actually sounding totally sincere, "I didn't realise". Max nodded, and they carried on walking, but then he started speaking again. "Although", he said, a smile crossing his face that he was lucky she couldn't see, "in a way you did start it!" 

"What?", Max said, whirling round again, remembering at the last minute to keep her voice down.

"Well I seem to remember that it was you who hit me first back there!", Alec said, starting to grin. 

"That is so not--", Max started, getting more and more indignant, "I would never have done it if you hadn't said what...what you said". 

"Oh", Alec said, acting the innocent for all he was worth...and failing miserably. "You mean about the windows in the car steaming up because you were looking all hot tonight!" 

Max was all but ready to hit him again and then she saw the smile on her face and realised that he was just trying to cheer her up. "Come on", she said, shaking her head and smiling, in spite of herself, "we get this job done quickly and you've probably still got time to use that line on some other girl tonight that might actually take you seriously!" 

"Ouch!", Alec said, "Not one to pull a punch are you Maxie?" She smiled and just pushed him in front of her towards the door they were heading for. She couldn't even get mad at him for that anymore - the first time he'd tried to call her Maxie, she was seriously pissed, but it just didn't seem to bother her anymore.

They reached the door and both ran a speculative eye over it. "Looks clear", Alec said, shrugging his shoulders to Max. 

"Logan", Max called, holding her left wrist up to her mouth, where she'd clipped her microphone to the wrist band of her glove (as had Alec), "you with us?" She didn't actually need to hold the microphone that close, but it just amplified the signal a little.

"Just about", Logan said, his voice crackling into both of their earpieces, "the door doesn't seem to be wired, I think it's probably okay". Alec looked over to Max again, waiting for her nod then he walked carefully up to the door and slowly turned the handle.

The door opened easily, squeaking a little on its hinges but otherwise it was fine. "I guess we're in", Max said, "we'll call when we get to the vault". Logan confirmed this and then they made their way down into the basement, Max leading after another little row at the top of the stairs. She got to the bottom of the flight and then sneaked a look around the corner, but all she could see at first was a bunch of cardboard boxes and storage crates - just usual basement stuff.

She beckoned Alec to follow and they moved further into the room when Alec pointed out a gap in the boxes. They moved towards it and then they found what they were looking for. As Logan had said, they came face to face with a very heavy-duty looking vault door - steel plated with a big-ass lock on the front......and then there was the little old guy sitting on the deckchair in front of it, gently snoozing into his copy of Gardner's Weekly! Max quickly confirmed to Logan that they had found it while Alec just stood there looking at the guy with a kind of amused disbelief.

"Alec can you move him?", Max asked, "We're gonna need to get to the door". 

"What Grandpa Smurf here?", Alec asked, grinning again, "But he looks so peaceful!" 

"Alec!", came Logan's voice in a warning tone over their earpieces. 

"Yeah, yeah", Alec said, with a theatrical sigh. He stepped over to the man, casting a glance around, "Doesn't look like he's armed". "Sir?", he said, gently shaking the old man 'til he began to stir. 

"Oh hello!", he said with a sleepy smile, not looking at all surprised to see Max and Alec all combat ready in front of him!

"Are you some new guards or something?", he asked, putting down his magazine and standing up. 

"Uh no", Alec said, very matter-of-factly before Max could interrupt, "we're here to rob the place if you don't mind". 

"Oh you kids!", the old man said, with a grin of his own, "You don't mind me - go right ahead!" 

Max just stood there in disbelief, her expression matching Logan's who could hear all this over Max and Alec's microphones. "You're not going to try and stop us or call the cops or something?", she asked. 

"Oh no", he said, "you two seem like nice kids and you look like you've got it all under control - but just out of interest, what are you after?"

Max couldn't even answer, she was still not quite able to comprehend what was going on. "Blueprints of some bank Milton's planning to knock over", Alec replied. Max shot him a look, but he just shrugged as if to say 'what?'. 

"Oh well, that sounds like a fairly noble cause", the old man said, standing up and moving his chair to the side so they could get at the door, "you go right ahead". "I'm Ernie by the way", he said, holding out his hand to them, which Alec took and shook, but Max was still too surprised to know what to do.

"Pleasure to meet you Ernie", Alec said, smiling in both amusement and disbelief, "I'm Alec and my lovely, though somewhat laconic assistant here is Max!" Max just shook her head, turning away for a second to speak to Logan. 

"One second", Logan said, "I've hacked into the system but the lock's pretty complex it'll just take a few more minutes". 

"So, you two do this a lot?", Ernie asked, sitting down in his repositioned deck chair. 

"Now and again!", Alec supplied, sitting down on the floor and striking up what seemed to be a perfectly normal conversation to him. "We work for eyes-only", Alec went on. Max was shooting him death looks, but this didn't seem to be stopping him. "Just little jobs every once in a while!" 

"Wow!", Ernie replied, whistling, "That's gotta be pretty exciting stuff! Getting into scraps, acting all James Bond-y!" That was about all Max could take, she felt her last thread of reality starting to drift away, but Alec seemed to be having a great time. "Y'know I was quite the tearaway myself...in my youth of course!", he added, winking to Alec. 

"Logan?", Max called through her microphone, needing to hear something sane fairly drastically. 

"I think I got it!", Logan called back, "Try the door now". Max silently thanked whatever God was helping them along right now - anything to get out of there quickly. She called to Alec and told him to try the door. He rolled his eyes, seemingly annoyed at the disturbance but he dutifully got up and tried the lock. 

It was one of those great big revolving things that you had to wind round to open, but after a few turns, it did indeed open as the bolts slid back. "Woah!", he said as he tried to pull the door open, "Little help here Max!" 

"The door's made of nine inch solid steel and titanium", Logan helpfully supplied as the two of them worked together to heave the door open. 

"You want any help?", Ernie helpfully offered, but Alec declined as they managed to push it back enough to get through. 

"We're in!", Max called back to Logan.

AN. So they're in - now all they've got to do is get the plans and get out right?! Yeah, 'cause my stories are always _that_ simple! *SS*


	3. 3

Max and Alec + locked room = ?

By Sinful Starlet

****

Disclaimer: situation's mine - the characters aren't, except for Ernie - bless him!

****

Rating: probablysomewhere between PG-13 and R - I'm not really sure where the divide is! 

****

Summary: see title! Logan asks for Max and Alec's help with an eyes-only job - not his greatest idea. Oh yeah, and a locked room, rising temperatures and funny breathing noises all feature somewhere! Admit it - ya wanna know what happens now right?! And don't panic - I'm going for funny not smutty! LOL!

****

Author's note: Starting to get a little funnier now, I hope! More from Ernie and if you thought Max was mad with Alec before - you ain't seen nothing yet. And thanks to all the lovely reviews - you're getting two chapters for the price of one this time! *SS*

*All together!* "It's gettin' hot in herre, so take off all your clothes..." - ya know how it goes! *SS*

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PART #4

"Wow!", Ernie said as they rested against the now open door for a second, "No one else has ever managed to get it open before - well done!" 

"Thanks Ern!", Alec smiled, "Okay", he said to Logan, "now what?" 

"Take a look around I guess", Logan said, "but remember to prop the door with something - if that thing closes again the locks'll reset and I'll have to hack in to the system again to get you out". 

"Yeah, yeah", Alec said, not really paying any attention, though Max was, "is it hot in here or something?" 

Max rolled her eyes, could he ever just focus for one second? "Can you pass me my bag?", she asked, gesturing to the rucksack that she'd left on the floor. 

"Man, what have you got in here?", Alec asked as he picked up the bag, "Bricks?!" 

"Something like that!", Max said, smiling sweetly. Alec unzipped the top of the bag and saw that she was actually telling the truth - the bag contained various things - among them one very serious-looking reinforced concrete breeze block! In the end he just shook his head and handed it to her. After her, Alec, and Ernie were all inside the vault she wedged the bag in the door frame securely so that the door wouldn't close. 

"Uh oh", said Logan as a red warning light flashed up on his computer screen. 

"What 'uh oh'?", Max asked quickly. 

"You tripped the alarm somehow", Logan said, typing quickly, "it's okay, I've managed to cancel the signal, but you'll have to be careful". "Okay", he said after another minute, "you still got that camera I gave you?" 

"Yeah", Max replied. "Well see if you can set it up somewhere and I'll take a look around", Logan said. 

"Right", Max said, looking around her for a minute. "Alec can you pass me the camera?", she said, looking over to where he was sitting, by the door, "It's in my bag---", she started, not stopping herself quickly enough. 

Alec really hadn't been paying attention before and instead of just reaching inside the bag, he picked the whole thing up, letting the door slide closed behind him. "You idiot!", she yelled. 

"What?", Logan called quickly, "What happened?" 

"Genius here just let the door close!", Max replied, looking pointedly at Alec. "How quickly can you get us out of here?" 

There was a long pause and an audible sigh from Logan before he spoke again, "It's not gonna be too quick". "Their security's on a rotating system, every time a code is used to access the vault, the computer changes it, I'll have to hack back in and get the new code". 

"Which means?", Alec asked, pointedly trying to avoid the seriously unhappy looks Max was throwing in his direction. 

"Couple of hours maybe", Logan replied, "you might want to get comfy!" 

Max groaned and slid down the wall into a crouched position for a second. "Alright", she said, "let's get this camera set up - we can at least find the blueprints while you're getting us out of here". 

***

"I'm sorry Max", Alec said quietly while she stalked round, trying to set up the camera, he figured Logan'd probably still hear him but what the hell? 

"Don't even--", she started, stopping herself and breathing deeply, trying to calm down. "Just...look round for the blueprints or something", she said, a little snappily, adding under her breath, "maybe there's still something you can do right!" She knew he would have heard her, but surprisingly so had Ernie.

He sat on the floor, leaning against the wall, looking not at all unhappy with the situation, in fact he looked like he was having fun. He nodded to Alec conspiratorially, "Having a little trouble with the Mrs.? Lover's tiff?" 

Max's eyes practically fell out of her head as they rolled skyward. "Not even close!", she said, a little too quickly, ignoring the look Alec gave her, "We're _not_ married and we're _certainly_ not lovers!" Ernie just smiled back at her, as if to say 'whatever!', which Alec found highly amusing.

"No me and Max aren't 'like that' Ern", Alec said, a little sarcastically as he mimicked what Max had said about her and Logan a hundred times. He walked over to him while he checked yet another set of drawers on the wall, lowering his voice a little while he talked to him, "You know the guy Logan we've been talking to on our microphones?", he asked. Ernie obligingly nodded. "Well he's more Max's type than I'll ever be!" Max caught something in Alec's voice when he said that, but didn't press it, just got on with setting up the camera.

"Too bad for you, huh?", Ernie said, with another sly wink. 

"Yeah", Alec said, with a slightly grim laugh, "too bad - but hey", he added, rapidly trying to change the subject, "I got my own stuff going on, y'know?" 

"Oh yes!", Ernie said, laughing in a way that seemed very similar to Alec's own laugh Max thought. "Young stud like you - bet you're fighting them off!" "How old are you?", he asked after a moment. 

"20", Alec replied, a little curiously.

Logan flinched, listening to their conversation - he'd forgotten how young Max and Alec really were - he was 26, and even though Alec had only been living outside of Manticore for about a year he already had a relationship history about ten times the length of Logan's! 

"Lucky you!", Ernie said, still verging on the comical, "I remember what it was like to be that age - not a care in the world, different girl every night---", he stopped very abruptly then as Alec drew his attention to Max staring pointedly at the two of them.

"Sorry ma'am!", Ernie said, tipping the brim of the old felt hat on his head, making Alec laugh even more. 

'God help us!', Max thought, 'Alec's actually starting to identify with this guy!'. 

"'Course all that was before I met my Bert", Ernie went on, " - that'd be my wife Bertha", he added, taking his wallet out of his pocket and showing Alec a picture of her. 

"Pretty lady!", Alec remarked. 

"You kidding?", Ernie replied, "I still remember the first time I met her - she was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. I mean she lit up the room, y'know?" 

Even Max and Logan had stopped to listen at this point. "I was at this club in town", Ernie went on, still looking fondly down at the picture in his hand, "and then I looked out across the crowd of people on the dance floor and there she was......it was just like in the movies". "Of course, it took me a while to work up the courage to actually talk to her - but then I did and from the first moment that I was standing there with her, before either of us had said a word, I knew - I knew that she was the woman I was supposed to marry, and I did". 

"That was fifty seven years ago now", he said, tucking the photo back into his wallet and putting the whole thing back into his pocket, "and she's still as beautiful to me as she was the day I met her". 

"That's quite a story", Alec said after a while, none of them were able to say anything at first - he shot a look up at Max, and found to his surprise that she was actually holding back a few tears at the edge of her eyes. It was about the most romantic thing she'd ever heard, but it didn't last. 

"And after all that time", Ernie added, that Cheshire Cat grin spreading across his face again, "the sex is still fantastic!"

"Oh God!", Alec groaned under his breath and Max had to hide a smile then - clearly that mental image wasn't working too well for Alec! 

"Max?", Logan said then, his voice bringing them both out of it then, and Alec had never been more thankful to hear his voice. 

"Right", she replied, going back over to the camera that she had set up on the kind of table in the middle of the room (kind of table because it was actually another bunch of drawers just arranged into a block configuration like a table). 

"Great", Logan said, as the visual came on line, "can you just hold it up for a second, take a scan round the room?" 

She did so, covering every inch of the walls and door. "Hi Logan!", Ernie said, waving cheerfully as Max panned the camera round in his direction. 

Max wiped her hand across her face as she held the camera in the other. "Any particular reason it's so hot in here?", she asked, through her microphone. 

"Sorry", Logan said, "it's part of the security system - minimal ventilation so there couldn't be any access through air vents". "It's virtually airtight", Logan went on, "so it's bound to get a little warm down there".

"Perfect!", Max said, setting the camera down again and fanning her face with her hand. She exchanged a look with Alec, who rolled his eyes before pulling his sweater off over his head. Underneath, his t-shirt was already fairly clingy, and the increasing temperature wasn't doing anything to help that. In fact Ernie was the only one who looked comfortable because he was only dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts! Max shrugged off her own jacket, dumping it on the floor. She was still wearing a tank top and a long-sleeved t-shirt over the top of her underwear, but she didn't really feel like undressing any further given her present company.

Alec had gotten to his feet by then and was trying a few more drawers, whistling in admiration at some of the stuff that he was finding. "Can we focus Alec?", Max said, a little tiredly as she put the camera down again. 

"Actually Maxie!", he retaliated, shooting her a smarmy look, "I think I got something!" He lifted a pile of papers out of a drawer and carried them over to the 'table' where the camera was sitting. 

"Bingo!", Max said, as she quickly surveyed the plans. 

"Hang on a second", Logan said, "there should be a building code in the bottom left corner of the plans". 

"Yep", Alec said, locating it, "49/682?" "That'd be the one!", Logan said, relieved. 

"There's more here", Max said, having gone back to check the drawer. 

"Well we'll take them too", Alec said, lifting them out and folding them into Max's bag with the bank blueprints.

"Any luck with the door?", Max asked. 

"Not so far", Logan said, "sorry Max but it looks like you're gonna have to wait a while longer". 

"One second", Alec said, interrupting them then, "what do we do about Ernie here? I mean if he's just sitting here after we leave like nothing's happened, then Milton'll think he was in on it". 

"Alec has a point", Max said - 'wow, I never thought I'd hear myself say that!'. "Well what do you have in mind?" 

"Hey Ern?", Alec asked, walking round to him, "Mind if we knock you out so you don't get in trouble with Milton?"

Max stared at Alec in disbelief for a second, but then Ernie said, "Sure - go ahead son, probably the best idea!" Before either Max or Logan could protest, Alec aimed a punch to Ernie's head. "Relax", he said afterwards, "I pulled it as much as I could - he'll be fine in about four hours, but it'll leave a good enough bruise to fool Milton!" 

Max pushed past him, checking Ernie's pulse anyway. "He's okay", she announced, to Logan mainly, while aiming an evil look at Alec!

AN. I decided there wasn't enough action in that one, so I've put up chapter four too, where things get decidedly more interesting! *SS*


	4. 4

Max and Alec + locked room = ?

By Sinful Starlet

****

Disclaimer: situation's mine - the characters aren't, except for Ernie - bless him!

****

Rating: probablysomewhere between PG-13 and R - I'm not really sure where the divide is! 

****

Summary: see title! Logan asks for Max and Alec's help with an eyes-only job - not his greatest idea. Oh yeah, and a locked room, rising temperatures and funny breathing noises all feature somewhere! Admit it - ya wanna know what happens now right?! And don't panic - I'm going for funny not smutty! LOL!

****

Author's note: Chapter 4 now - or as I like to call it, the 'what _is_ Max doing?' chapter. Trust me, you'll see why fairly soon on! *All together!* "It's gettin' hot in herre, so take off all your clothes..." - ya know how it goes! *SS*

_____________________________________________________________________

PART #5

The hours wore on, and Max was starting to get seriously bored. Logan had been fairly quiet because he was concentrating on getting the door open, though he would interrupt every now and again to update them or answer their questions. So basically, Max was stuck with only Alec to talk to, in a room that was getting more than uncomfortably hot (for an X5 at least, their basic body temperature being several degrees higher than normal humans' anyway).

They had played about a hundred games of 'rock, paper, scissors', played that memory game about what you would pack on holiday (their memories being somewhat enhanced, the list got up to thirty eight items before Alec eventually gave up), they had started to play 'anywhere but here' but Max objected after Alec's second turn! They'd also told about every joke and story they knew, and Alec had just proposed playing 'truth or dare' ('not a good idea!' Max thought) when Logan interrupted them again.

Max breathed a sigh of relief, then tried not to laugh as she saw Alec's disappointed face. "What's up Logan?", she asked. 

"Well I'm back into the main system - it should only take about another half hour or so". Max groaned inwardly - right now, even half an hour was seemingly like a dangerously long time to be left in that room with Alec. She finally gave up trying to preserve whatever idea of modesty she had, and pulled her t-shirt off over her head, leaving only her tank-top and underwear underneath.

Alec seemed to take this as his cue and he reached for the bottom of his now fairly soaked t-shirt, ready to take that off too, but Max stopped him at the first flash of the golden skin of his lower torso. 

"Nuh huh!", she said, shaking her head, "No one's taking off any more clothes - you'll just have to wait it out!" At the sound of 'taking off clothes', Logan suddenly focussed his attention back on their conversation for the moment - he took a look at the video monitor, but they were still just sitting on the floor on opposite sides of the room.

"Aw come on Max!", Alec groaned, "I'm dying here!", he protested, holding out his shirt to her as evidence, "You're wearing less than me anyway!" 

"What?", Max said, looking down at her tank-top - as was Logan. 

"I meant by way of surface area!", Alec said with a rather comical sigh. Max mulled this over in her head for a moment and then got to her feet, succumbing to temptation for a minute. 

"Fine!", she said as she came to a stop standing in front of him before dropping down to her knees.

This certainly got Logan's attention, and Alec was more than a little interested himself. "Uh...M-Max", he managed to say eventually, as she paused for a second, then reached forward and ripped his shirt at the collar. Logan was starting to go into a panic here, and from the look of it, Alec wasn't far behind him, but Max was starting to enjoy her little plan! She stopped the tear a couple of inches down, pulling each side of the tear sideways, effectively widening the neck of the t-shirt by about two inches in every direction.

She dumped the discarded material next to her and then turned her attention to the sleeves. She took one in each hand and ripped them both off in one go. 

"There!", she said, sitting back on her ankles for a second as she surveyed her handiwork with pride. "I'd say we're about even now", she went on, in response to Alec's somewhat incredulous expression. "In terms of _'surface area' _of course!" Alec got what she had done then, looking down at the somewhat tattered remains of his shirt, and realising that he had probably been asking for it anyway.

"Besides", she said, leaning in much closer to Alec again, and speaking quietly enough so that only he would hear her (basically so that Logan wouldn't even be able to pick it up over their microphones), "if Logan's still watching the video feed then seeing me draped over you like this could provide a little incentive to get us out of here faster!" Alec had to restrain his laugh but he smiled anyway, knowing she wouldn't see it - that was fairly sneaky of her - maybe he was starting to influence her after all.

She eventually stood up again, walking back over to the other side of the room and sitting back down, wiping her face with the back of her hand. Alec, in the meantime, was still surveying the remnants of his shirt. 

"Oh get over it!", Max said, sighing exasperatedly, "I'll buy you a new one when we get out of here". 

"You better!", Alec replied, deciding to stretch a few boundaries for a second, "'Cause I look fairly ridiculous now!", he said, gesturing at the improv tank-top. 

"Oh for God's sake!", Max said, throwing her head back to look up at the ceiling, attempting to hide the smile that was starting to form on her lips. "If it bothers you that much, just take the damn thing off already!" Alec didn't reply immediately, so she tilted her head back down to see what he was doing, only to be caught by the full force of his tattered t-shirt as it hit her in the face. She pulled the thing off her and dumped it on the floor, looking up only to see a very characteristic cocky grin on Alec's face.

"What?!", she said, after a few seconds, half way between annoyed and amused. Well actually, the grin wasn't _all_ she had seen, but she was trying not to focus on _that_ right now! 

"Nothing really!", Alec replied, still grinning like anything, "Just I keep telling you Max, if you wanna get me naked, all you need to do is ask - you don't have to beg!" That probably was pushing things a little too far, and he got his shirt thrown back in his face as Max's only response!

AN. Evil place to stop it again right?! I know, but I had to leave something for the next chapter! *hugely unsubtle hint* Reviews = more story! *SS*


	5. 5

Max and Alec + locked room = ?

By Sinful Starlet

****

Disclaimer: situation's mine - the characters aren't, except for Ernie - bless him!

****

Rating: probablysomewhere between PG-13 and R - I'm not really sure where the divide is! 

****

Summary: see title! Logan asks for Max and Alec's help with an eyes-only job - not his greatest idea. Oh yeah, and a locked room, rising temperatures and funny breathing noises all feature somewhere! Admit it - ya wanna know what happens now right?! And don't panic - I'm going for funny not smutty! LOL!

****

Author's note: Chapter 5. Only one chapter left after this, and this one's long enough (!) Things in the locked room get much more interesting for Max and Alec, and one or two revelations occur! *SS* 

=============================================================

PART #6

Back in the van, Logan was not exactly having his greatest evening. He kept reminding himself that he was doing this for the common good - stopping Milton from robbing the Herriott Bank, and everything, but he was cursing himself for letting Max get stuck in that vault with Alec of all people. To say that Logan and Alec were friends would be like saying that leaving a keg of dynamite near an open flame was a good idea, but he couldn't seem to get rid of him!

Max always talked about how much he irritated her, but he didn't seem to be taking the hint - and now they weren't just hanging out together at work, but Max was spending her nights at Crash with him as well. Granted it was just because he was part of the whole Jam Pony gang - like Cindy and Sketchy, but he still drove Logan crazy. He'd been trying not to listen to their conversation for the last couple of minutes, but had turned back again when he'd heard something that sounded a little alarming!

True enough, looking back at the screen, he found Max still sitting on the floor, but somewhere in the meantime, Alec had apparently lost his shirt. Now Logan wasn't usually the jealous type - after all, it didn't usually bother him that much when Max was around her male friends because he knew how she felt about him, but Logan was starting to suspect he might be in for a little competition now. Alec wasn't an X5 for nothing - maybe it was time to start going to the gym again, Logan thought!

In fact, it was probably just as well that Logan couldn't see their faces too clearly at that moment - it probably wouldn't have brightened his day any. Throwing the shirt back at him was a bit of a master stroke for Max, because it gave her just a couple of seconds to regain her composure before he looked back at her again. Right now she was having serious problems adjusting to the fact that Alec had just entered 'desirable male' status. Actually, forget desirable, it was probably more along the lines of 'dear God, take me now!'

She actually made herself check when she was next due for a heat cycle, and thankfully it wasn't anytime soon - she was trying very hard not to think about what would have happened if she was in heat right now. She told herself that it was the temperature more than anything else - it was just too damn hot in that room. It wasn't her fault that that particular combination of conditions, and the absence of Alec's shirt was starting to do funny things to her! She'd seen him wearing less than that before and had never really thought anything of it, but things were oh so different now. 

Her eyes unconsciously took in the shape of his upper body, down his muscular arms and torso, the slightest gleam of moisture on his skin trickling down to......'Damn it!' she thought! What the hell was going on?! Her mind was just playing tricks on her - she didn't feel anything for Alec, she was still in love with......oh God what was his name again?! Logan! Yeah, that was it. She suddenly realised that he had probably seen everything that had just happened, and couldn't help it when she felt a laugh build up inside her throat.

At the same time, Alec had been sitting there opposite her, enjoying teasing her and getting her all riled up, when he had seen the flicker of her eyes moving. He just sat there, trying not to smile or show that he had noticed as she took in the sight of him - this was clearly scoring him a few points against Logan, he thought cheerfully. He was quite pleased with himself, right up until the point when she laughed. He glared at her then, looking quite indignant. 

"What's so funny?", he asked, beating Logan to it.

"Yeah, Max are you okay?", came Logan's voice through both their earpieces. 

'Great!' Alec thought, trust Logan to hijack the conversation! The sound of both guys asking her what she was laughing about, just made Max laugh even more though, 'til she was actually crying with laughter (probably not the best idea when she was already dehydrated!) 

"I'm good!", she managed to say eventually, breathing deeply to calm herself down, "Private joke!" Logan didn't say anything then, but Alec was still wondering what was going on. He kept shooting her curious looks as she sat there, suddenly becoming very interested in the state of her nails.

PART #7

After about another ten minutes, Max stood up with a sigh, walking over to Alec and offering him her hand. He took it and she pulled him up to his feet. "Uh Max?", he asked, suddenly very aware of their physical proximity, "What are you doing?" 

"I wanna spar with you", she said, quite matter-of-factly - stepping back to get into a fighting stance. 

"What?!", Alec asked, clearly confused, trying to figure out what the hell she was doing. 

"I'm bored", she said, still trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for herself as well as for him! "I'm restless", she went on, "I'm way too damn hot, I'm getting leg cramps from sitting still for so long...", she paused there, seeing she wasn't winning him over, "and I'm still mad at you for getting the two of us stuck in here in the first place!" That seemed to work anyway, he did seem to seriously consider it for a minute - but in the end, he spoke before Logan got the chance to interrupt. 

"Okay", he said, "it's already like a hundred degrees in here, we've got no water to re-hydrate and you wanna do physical exercise?! Good plan Max!"

Logan sat back, pleased that for once, the guy was being sensible. "Oh come on!", Max said, clearly not willing to let it go so easily, "You scared?" 

"Of you?", Alec asked, shaking his head, "I just don't think you're thinking straight - and I don't want to hurt you". 

"Please!", she said, clearly not too bothered by the threat, "I knocked you on your ass once before, remember?" He did of course - that cage fight wasn't too easy to forget! "Anyway, I did it once", Max went on, starting to pace round, forcing him to do the same, "I can do it again!"

Alec still reckoned it was a fairly dumb idea, but he started to relent. Max seeing her opportunity, lunged at him - if he wouldn't voluntarily start something, she'd find another way to persuade him! Logan found himself oddly fascinated by the sight on the video screens. Though Alec did have the edge of ten extra years of Manticore training, Max was doing pretty well so far, matching him. It was almost like a dance the way they seemed to almost perfectly anticipate each other's moves and counter attacks without ever losing their balance.

It was quite hypnotic really, as far as Logan could see, but for Max it was starting to get really frustrating. They were so evenly matched that she didn't feel like she was getting a proper fight. Neither one of them landed any serious injuries - and despite what she had said before, she wasn't even close so far to knocking Alec on his ass. She decided she needed to change the pace, so she jumped up onto the 'table' in the centre of the room, gaining a little advantage from the height.

She managed to land one kick to Alec's back before he could turn round, so he reached out for her feet to stop her doing that again. He succeeded in knocking her on _her_ ass on the 'table', unfortunately not reacting in time to save the camera which went wheeling towards the floor......

Logan had actually stopped watching the fight for a minute, however much fun it was to see Max beating up Alec, but the crash he heard over their microphones soon caught his attention again! He turned back to see nothing but static on the video screens. "Max? Alec?", he called urgently to them, "What happened? The video just went off line" 

There came the sound of some indistinct mumbled argument for a second and then Max's voice said, "Captain America got a little clumsy and managed to knock the camera off the tabletop". There was a brief pause and then she sighed as she picked up the battered remnants, "It looks pretty fried", she said eventually. 

Logan cursed under his breath - now he couldn't even see what was going on in there. Not that he felt the need to spy on Max, or keep an eye on what her and Alec were up to......he really shouldn't have started down that road, he decided. "Well I've still got you on the audio", Logan said, trying not to sound as annoyed as he was, "I'll keep working on the doors and you can use the microphones to keep in touch".

"Right", Max replied, shooting a daggers look at Alec. That about did it for him. It always had to be his fault, even when she suggested the stupid fight in the first place. He decided fair play was no fun anymore, and started the fight again before she had the chance to object. Catching her by surprise for a second, with her side open to attack, instead of the punch he had been going to deliver, he tickled her instead. A triumphant smile crossed his face as she doubled over and started to laugh, just about managing to fend him off in the process.

There was a definite weak spot for him to exploit, but it didn't look like he was going to get the chance. Max may have been smaller than Alec, with less training behind her, but her size allowed her to be far more agile and fast. It almost worked really, but then Alec decided he was getting fed up of this whole game. As she landed another kick to his side, he twisted round before she could stop him, grabbing her wrist and using his left foot to knock her legs out from under her.

She couldn't get out of it this time and she fell to the floor, with him close behind her. She landed on her back with Alec holding both her wrists over her head in one of his hands. He was partially laying on top of her as well, though just out of reach of her legs when she tried to kick her way out. It was no good, she reluctantly realised, he really had got her this time. "Now get out of that!", Alec challenged her, holding her hands in place no matter how much she wriggled around. 

It was only then that she realised how close they really were. The way Alec was lying, their hips were just about level, and his chest was pressed against hers, his left hand holding both her wrists, and his right hand across the tops of her legs to prevent her from moving as much as possible. This was crossing the border from 'slightly awkward' to 'downright dangerous', but she managed to keep her control, breathing hard. Her face felt warm for a moment, and she realised as she shifted her eyes downwards a little that it was from Alec's breath on her face. 

And she wasn't the only one that had noticed their proximity. Alec was having a hard concentrating on anything very much at the moment, feeling Max's breath against his cheek, feeling her skin pressed up against his, the gleam of perspiration on both of their bodies making their skin slick against each other. He tried not to look her directly in the face at first, but after a minute when he heard her breath become a little easier, he chanced a look into her eyes.

What he saw there surprised him more than anything else that day - she looked upset. Not angry or frustrated, or what he had secretly been hoping he might see there - she just looked really upset. "Max what's wrong?", he asked, though he didn't even attempt to move his position (he didn't even let her wrists go). 

She didn't answer right away, but when she did her voice was small and very uncharacteristic, "You beat me". For a second he wasn't sure that he'd heard her right, and when he was sure, he didn't really know how to react.

"That's what you're so upset about?", he asked, softening his voice as well, mostly for her benefit, but also hoping that Logan wouldn't be able to overhear. 

"We've fought plenty of times before", she went on, completely ignoring his question, and his gaze for that matter, it was more like she was talking to herself, "and I've beat you basically every time - except this time. Now I can't". 

"Hey it's not a big deal Max", Alec said, interrupting her slightly, "no one's perfect all the time - I guess I was just having a good day is all".

"No", Max said, then again more firmly, shaking her head, "no - you always should've won. You're taller than me, you've got ten years more training, and......", here she hesitated, "...and you're obviously a lot stronger than I am". 

"So?", Alec said, trying to gauge exactly how much trouble he was in, he thought he was getting to know Max pretty well, but right now he didn't have a clue what was going on. 

"So why have you never beaten me before? You could have - easily".

"I don't know about easily!", Alec said, as he shifted position a little - there were several body parts that he recognised to be in varying amounts of pain right now (!), "But what do you want me to say Max. Yeah, I'm stronger than you are - so what? You're not exactly a weakling yourself!" He let go of her wrists finally then, bending that arm to lean on his elbow with his head on his hand, without moving the rest of him. Max could've pushed him off her then, but she didn't, instead just rubbing her wrists a little and then wiping her face down.

"That's not the point", she said eventually. "The point is you could've won every single time we've fought", Max went on, before he had the chance to ask another question. "But you didn't", she said, at last looking him in the eye, "you always let me win - why?" "You fight me to the last breath whenever we argue - why should this be any different?" 

Alec thought for a long time before he answered. He knew the reason the second she asked the question, but somehow didn't feel that this was quite the right moment for the whole truth - especially not with Logan potentially listening in.

"I guess it's because of Rachel", he said at last, lying through his teeth, but figuring if he laid enough 'emotional' stuff on the line that Max'd probably buy it. "After her", he said, "I didn't look at girls in the same way again". "Back at Manticore, we were taught barely even to make the distinction - before the breeding program of course!" - hey a little humour couldn't hurt, right? It worked anyway, because it made her smile in spite of herself.

"I fought plenty of X5 females and never gave them any more consideration than I did the males, but I guess Rachel made me see things a little different". "You don't even look all that much like her", he went on, "but I can't help seeing her face sometimes when I'm with you - so when you're fighting me, it's like I'm fighting her and I can't bring myself to really go all out in case I hurt 'her' again. I already did enough damage there". She seemed to take all this in, looking away and nodding to herself, before turning back to him.

She looked searchingly into his eyes for a second, and he put all the effort he had left into trying to look sincere - he just hoped it had worked. 

"Nice try Alec!" - it hadn't. She didn't look like she was trying to make any jokes though, her face was serious rather than sarcastic. "You almost had me there", she said, "but I do know you - I can tell when you're lying". 

"Well if you know that", Alec said, probably a little harsher than necessary, but he was trying to make a point, "then you know I probably have my reasons and that maybe this just isn't the right time, okay?"

She was a little concerned then. Every now and then, she saw something in Alec's eyes that made her worry. She knew he was carrying a lot of stuff around that he'd never talk about, but no matter how much he irritated her sometimes, she couldn't help it if she started to care a little. 

"Hey", she said, her voice a little softer than it had been before. He still hadn't turned to look at her, so she reached one hand up and gently turned his face towards hers. "Truce, okay?", she said, still holding her hand against his cheek, unaware of the effect that simple contact was having on him, "I guess it's just been a long day".

"I know I act like I enjoy tormenting you", she went on, attempting to apologise for several months of being too hard on him at once (!), "but we have become friends, right? I don't want to see you beat yourself up over whatever it is that's goin' on inside your head...", she let her fingers trail down from his forehead to the edge of his lips, "...that's my job!" She hadn't been watching him all this time, and it was certainly good that Logan hadn't, because he definitely wouldn't like what he was about to see!

She looked up into his eyes then, and found them starting straight back into hers. She could still feel his breath against her face and could almost swear she felt his heart rate quicken a little as his chest was still pressed closely against hers. They were both suddenly very aware of the fact that her fingers were still against his lips, and Alec realised that this was finally it. He had two choices here - he could let the moment pass like he always had before, or he could stop trying to do the right thing by the 'Max&Logan' unit and just give it a shot for once.

He chose option 2. 

AN. Yeah I know *ducks to avoid objects thrown by angry readers who hate cliffhangers!* but there's only one chapter left and I won't make you wait too long for it this time - probably! *SS*


	6. 6

Max and Alec + locked room = ?

By Sinful Starlet

Disclaimer: situation's mine - the characters aren't, except for Ernie - bless him!

Rating: Okay, on the advice of one of my reviewers - see I do read these things! - I'm changing the rating to PG-13.

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Summary: see title! Logan asks for Max and Alec's help with an eyes-only job - not his greatest idea. Oh yeah, and a locked room, rising temperatures and funny breathing noises all feature somewhere! Admit it - ya wanna know what happens now right?! And don't panic - I'm going for funny not smutty! LOL!

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Author's note: Chapter 6. Final chapter! Will Max and Alec ever get out of the bloody room, and how will Max react to what Alec is about to do? Only one way to find out! *SS* 

Also, apologies for not adding this sooner, but things have been kind of mad for me at the mo (sadly my granddad died a couple of weeks ago and we're still kinda dealing with the aftermath of all that so I haven't been able to get round to doing any serious writing for a while). Anyway, I'm back now, and if you want something to read until my next story is up, go read 'Someone to Watch Over Me' 'cause not many people seem to be all that interested in that one! (PS. HUGE thanks to everyone who has reviewed 'STWOM', it is very much appreciated!)

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PART #8

Looking away from her eyes for a second, he parted his lips just enough to kiss the fingertips still pressed against them. He practically tensed himself up immediately afterwards, almost sure that he was going to get slapped round the face for doing that - but nothing happened. Seeing that this was basically a 'now-or-never' type of scenario, he reached one hand up, moving hers away from his mouth. Still no angry retaliation - 'what the hell', he thought, leaning in closer to her, bringing his face towards hers until his lips were only an inch away from hers when...

..."Alec?", Max said, in a voice so breathy it was practically a whisper. He stopped right where he was, not pulling back or getting any closer. He felt it too. The vibration between them, where their hips lay against each other. It took him a few seconds before it registered and then he sat up, moving off her and grabbing the offending cell phone from his pocket with so much bottled-up frustration he ended up ripping the pocket out of his jeans in the process! He turned around to answer the phone, which was probably just as well for Max's sake, so he couldn't see the whole stream of emotions crossing her face at that moment.

"What?!", he said into the phone, trying not to yell so Max wouldn't be able to tell what he was feeling. 

"Oh, hey man!", came the voice on the other end of the phone, trying to sound optimistic and cheery while knowing the person they just called seriously did not want them to at that moment. Alec cursed under his breath in exasperation. It was official, he had the worst luck in the entire world! 

"Uh, sorry Alec!", Sketchy said, hugely apologetic, while still trying to figure out what was going on, given that Alec's breathing sounded a little funny (!), "This a bad time?"

While all this had been going on, Max had sat up and was trying to get herself straightened up before Alec turned round again. 'What the hell had just happened?', she thought. Thirty seconds ago she was about an inch away from kissing Alec!! Actually, when she thought about it, it was _him_ that was trying to kiss _her_, not the other way round, but she hadn't been doing a right lot to stop it. She didn't actually want to kiss him did she?! No, of course not. She was still in love with......thingy! Logan! God, she really ought to be able to remember his damn name.

Actually, given how annoyed Alec was sounding on the phone, she figured it was probably him that Alec was talking to. "What's going on?", she asked Alec, picking about the worst time possible. 

"Hey was that Max's voice I just heard?", Sketchy asked, filling in the answer himself before Alec got a chance to reply. "Oh God man, I'm sorry! I didn't realise you two were......wow, _I_ feel bad! Anyway, I guess I interrupted something so I'll leave you guys to it......uh, later!" He hung up before Alec even had the chance to say another word, and he couldn't help it then, the comedy of the moment overcoming him for a second.

"What?", Max asked, completely confused as Alec's shoulders started to shake with laughter. 

"That was Sketchy on the phone!", Alec said, turning round at last. If Alec's face was a picture before, then Max's was a whole bloody art gallery! "He uh, seemed to think that there was something going on between you and me", Alec explained, "and he hung up before I had a chance to deny it!" He had been trying not to smile, but gave up when she started to laugh too. 

"Oh well!", she said, when the giggles had subsided, "I guess that's going to be an interesting one to explain to him later!"

"Yeah...Max I'm sorry", Alec said, standing up and starting to pace around a little. He was actually starting to feel a little bad, it's not like anything was ever going to happen between them, he probably should have left it at that. "I let things go a little too far there - I guess I was just caught up in the moment or something. I didn't mean to upset anything between you and...well y'know", he said, jerking his thumb towards the door, but obviously indicating Logan. 

Max stood up too, making some kind of vain attempt to straighten her clothes, and trying to ignore Alec's lack of them! 

"Not really a problem", she said, walking round till she was standing in front of him, thinking she was probably about to make a fairly bad decision, but feeling way too far past the point of common sense to stop now, "and I'll tell you when you've gone too far". Those words hit Alec like a baseball bat round the head. For about five seconds he was sure he had misheard her, but she didn't look like she was joking.

"Uh Max?", he questioned, not really sure what was going on. 

"Ssh", Max said, pressing one finger to his lips as her other hand landed flat against his chest, feeling cool to him, despite the heat of the room, "you really talk too much!" For a moment then, time seemed to stand still. Alec reached up and took both of her hands in his, they stepped even closer together until Max's chest was once again pressed up against Alec's, their faces inched closer and closer, the gap between their lips narrowing further and further until...

PART #9

"Max? Alec?" Logan's voice crackled into both of their earpieces, killing the moment beyond any doubt. They both sprang apart automatically - though who had the greater guilt motivation was now in question. 

"Yeah?", Max called back, into her microphone, in the meantime barely catching something Alec muttered about 'dumb luck' and 'catching a break'! 

"I think I've got the door set", Logan said, prodigiously proud of himself, and totally unaware of everything that had just been happening. "If you want to get your stuff together, I should have it open in about thirty seconds". 

"Thanks!", Max called back, trying not to smile at the look on Alec's face. Max retrieved her bag and they both pulled on the clothes they had discarded earlier, with Max shoving the remnants of Alec's shirt into her bag so they wouldn't leave anything behind. Max was just about to call Logan to say they were all set when Alec grabbed her wrist, pulling her to him and pressing his lips quickly against hers! 

"Third time lucky, right?", was his only response to her rather surprised expression, though the grin on his face quickly spread to hers!

"Okay Logan", Max called then, "we're all set". 

"Right", he replied, "I think I've got it - how about...now?" 

There was the mumbled sound of swearing on the other end of Logan's audio link, quickly followed by Alec's voice, "Uh nope! Door's still locked and the lights have gone out!" 

Now it was Logan's time to swear. "Okay, sorry!", he said quickly, typing in a new code sequence, "How about...now?" 

"Still nothing", Alec called back, quickly followed a slight yelp from Max, "oh, and there go the sprinklers!" 

"Logan---", came Max's voice over the audio link, not sounding too amused. 

"Okay", Logan said, attempting to pacify her before she got out, "I'm sure I've got it this time!"

"Bingo!", came Alec's reply, he was just lucky that Logan didn't know that his next remark was directed at Max far more than it was at Logan, "I guess third time's the charm!" The light from the basement flooded into the darkened vault as they pushed the door open. Max took her bag while Alec carried Ernie out, sitting him down on the chair he had been in when they arrived, once the door was closed again. They didn't know quite what to say to each other then, so they just made their way fairly rapidly back up top to Logan. 

Once they got inside the van, Logan didn't exactly know what to say. Max's face was still flushed, Logan guessed (right or wrong?) from the heat of the room, and they both obviously looked like they'd showered in their clothes! "Those plans you wanted?", Max said, dumping them fairly unceremoniously on the workstation in front of Logan. 

"Uh, thank you?", Logan said, Max's 'don't mess with me' vibe coming in loud and clear. 

"Let's just go home", Max said, managing to stay mad despite the grin forming on Alec's face, "I just really wanna take a shower - and preferably not with my clothes on this time!"

Logan quickly moved round to the driver's seat, knowing that it was not a good idea to try and talk Max round when she was mad like this - he'd just give her a day or two. He didn't hear Alec say anything, but thought he must've done because he caught Max looking back at him like she was half-way between murdering him and......something else Logan couldn't quite recognise. 

Alec didn't care anyway, even if he did get a reproach from either one of them - he had had way too much fun not to say it now. When Max mentioned she wanted a shower without her clothes this time, what else could he say but, "Works for me!"

THE END!

AN. I know that wasn't one of my better endings, but I was getting a little stuck, and if anyone's interested, there probably will be a sequel to this, though I'm not entirely sure what'll happen in it yet. Logan is definitely gonna catch Max and Alec up to something though - I'll leave you to imagine what! I think I'm gonna continue the whole 'humour' idea as well 'cause this one was really fun to write! And sorry if it takes a while for a sequel to appear, but I am still trying to write my 'epic' DA story and a Lord of the Rings one ('cause I haven't done any of them yet!) I'll be back soon though (hopefully!) Love *Sinful Starlet*


	7. epilogue

Epilogue

Okay, not too much else to add here, just wanted to confirm that I am definitely writing a sequel to this story (when I get round to it!), it may take a while, but it will come eventually. I've got a few ideas, but if there is anything you particularly want to see included, leave it as a message for me either as a review or at my email address (nirvana_nerd@hotmail.com).

In the meantime, you can always read my other DA fics. I've got another DA one on the back burner too, and two Lord of the Rings ones now - I'm in a bit of a Legolas mood! 

I think that's about everything for now, but I will be back soon and thanx again to all my lovely reviewers, it is appreciated v.v. much! *Sinful Starlet* 


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